Turntable type display rack assembly

ABSTRACT

A display rack assembly has a turnable central column with rails thereon which have slits into which ends of lateral brackets are detachably inserted at any desired height of the rails, sectional racks are positioned on said brackets and guiding means are located on the undersides of the racks and each rest on the upper edges of one of said brackets for the purpose of supporting a display tray, rack, basket or the like on each rack.

United States Patent [151 3,701 337 Spiik [451 Oct. 31, '1972 [$4]TURNTABLE TYPE DISPLAY RACK 2,677,519 5/1954 Hobson ..21 1/176 XASSEMBLY 3,248,079 4/1966 Kennedy ...21 1/176 X 72 Inventor: Karl E. G.s Breviksva en 1 4 ..21 X l 1 42166 vawfnglunda, swgden 3,292,79612/1966 Paige ..211/133 [22] Filed: July 1970 Primary Examiner-Nile C.Byers, Jr. [21] Appl. No.: 57,046 Attorney-Linton & Linton 52 us. (:1...211/133 [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl. ..A47f 5/00 A display rackassembly has a twrnable central column [58] Fiel f flflr 1 1 7, 1 withrails thereon which have slits into which ends of 211/163 lateralbrackets are detachably inserted at any desired height of the rails,sectional racks are positioned on Remus said brackets and guiding meansare located on the UNITED STATES PATENTS undersides of the racks andeach rest on the upper edges of one of said brackets for the purpose ofsup- Jennens X ti g a tray rack basket or the on each 3,502,293 3/1970Bard, ..21 1/176 X rack 3,414,133 12/1968 Guerri ..211/133 1,843,9512/1932 Lorentzen ..211/163 4 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PATENTEDUCT 3 1I972 SHEET 1 UP 4 KRRL tnm GEORG SIJ/IV/ZENTOR PATENTEDBBIQI I972 3.701-437 sum 2 or 4 mmvrba KARL ERIK GEORG SPHK ATTORNEYS PKTENTEDumm m2 SHkU3 0? 4 v m KARL ERIK GEORG SH/K BY M M ATToRNEvs PATENTEBnm a 1 I972SHEET 4 BF 4 FIG. 11

INVHVTOR.

KARL ERIK 0502s sPJiK ATTORNEYS TURNTABLE TYPE DISPLAY RACK ASSEMBLY Thepresent invention relates to a turntable type display rack assembly.

The main object of the invention is to provide turntable type displayracks on which it is possible to adjust the height position of the racksin a simple manner and without having to resort to any tools. Saidpurpose has been achieved by the present invention, which ischaracterized by the racks being supported by brackets diverging indirections away from a central column to which they aredetachablymounted.

Further objects and description of the invention will now be describedmore in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view of a display rack according to the presentinvention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion of the racktaken along line lI-II of Fig. 1,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side elevational view of a tion of the centralcolumn,

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2 of a bracketforming part of the assembly and of a rail of a modified design arrangedat the underside of said racks and cooperating with said bracket andtaken at line IV-IV of Figure 5, but including a guide,

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of a portion of the bracketillustrated in FIG. 4, but omitting the guide,

FIG. 6 is a top view corresponding to FIG. 1 of a portion of a rackplane, with said racks being a modification of the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 1,

FIG. 7 is an enlarged side elevational view of a bracket with itsmounting means forming part of the assembly according to FIG. 6,

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view corresponding to FIG. 7 of the samebracket in another one of its mounting positions, 7

FIG. 9 is top view of the bracket illustrated in FIG. 7,

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken on line XX of FIG. 7 andincluding a rail supported by said bracket arranged at the underside ofa rack not shown, and

FIG. 11 is a side elevational view of a rack assembly according to FIGS.6-10.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 the racks 1 are shaped assectors of a circle and each has a frame of L-shaped metal sections 1a1b with one flange 1a forming the outward oriented edges of each rackand the flange lb serving the purpose of supporting a display tray, forexample, made of wood or glass, or a wire net rack, basket or the like.A central column is indicated at 2 on which are fastened bracket rails 3having slits 3a arranged in double rows serving the purpose of receivinghook-shaped end portions of the brackets 4 to support the racks.U-shaped guiding means 5 are located on the undersides of and arefastened to the racks 1 in the mounted condition of the rack assemblyand rest upon the upper edges of the brackets 4. As is evident from FIG.1 the racks are each supported by a pair of brackets 4 with the bracketsentering into the rail slits 3a and with each pair of brackets divergingin a direction away from the central column 2. By this arrangement theracks are prevented from being displaced along the brackets in adirection away from the column 2, as the guiding means 5 tend to retainthe brackets in unchanged angular positions when the rack is subjectedto a force operating in a direction away.

from the column 2. In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 the twobrackets providing the same bracket pair are detachably connected toeach one of two adjacent bracket rails 3.

Raising or lowering of a rack is performed by each rack 1 being liftedfrom its brackets 4, whereafter said brackets are unhooked from therespective bracket rails 3 and hooked on at the desired height level,whereafter the rack again is placed upon said brackets. It is notnecessary to arrange the racks in such a way that they constitutecomplete planes, but it is also possible to arrange the individual racksat different levels in between them. By the arrangement having thebrackets in each bracket pair fastened to different bracket rails and.because of the angle between the brackets, their rack is prevented frombeing displaced sidewise. In order to lessen the risk of the racktipping over when loaded, the guiding means 5 are arranged at a certaindistance inside of the radial edges of the rack.

In FIGS. 4 and 5 a modified embodiment is illus- I trated according towhich one of the brackets 6 at its upper edge is shaped with one orseveral thicker portions 7, which by way of example may be made of bentsheet material. However, it is to be understood that this thickerportion also may be designed in a different manner, for examplecomprising two sheet metal pieces or the like being fastened to thelaterals of the bracket 6. As is evident from FIG. 4, according to thisembodiment, one flange of the rail 8 at its lower part is provided witha thicker edge portion 8a on the side facing inwards. The rails 8illustrated in the FIGS. 4 and 5 are each connected to the frame oftheir rack 1 in such a way that lowering its position to a position inwhich the rails 8 embrace the upper edge portions of the brackets 6,this taking place by two brackets 6 of the ones supporting the rackagainst the bias of the resilient material of said two brackets bypressing with their outer ends in direction towards each other,whereafter the edge portions of the rails are hooked on the brackets 6by gripping the thick portions 7 of the said brackets. The opening widthof the rails 8 right in front of the thick portions 7 are given adimension slightly exceeding the width of said thicker portions. Theedge portions 8a of the rails 8 are located at those sides of the rails,towards which the brackets 6 tend to swing due to their spring action.As a result the rack is prevented from being lifted 0E the brackets 6without their later again being brought together against the springaction. By this'arrangement the rack in an efficient manner ispreventedfrom tilting over for example when one of its corner portionslocated outside the brackets is subjected to a heavy load.

It is not necessary that the brackets in each bracket pair are arrangedin such a way that they must be pressed in a direction towards eachother before their insertion into the bracket rails 8, it being possibleto imagine also the opposite direction of the spring force, whereby thethick portions 8a of each one of the rails 8 shall be located at theopposite side of the bracket 6. The thick portions 8a and 7 of coursealso can be designed in a number of different ways without parting fromthe idea of the invention.

In the FIGS. 6-11 a central column is indicated at 1 l, I

there is a number of vertical rails 14 of U-shaped crosssection,preferably three of them, fastened at their edges corresponding the freeleg ends of the U to column 11. The rails 14 in their portion facingaway from the column have double rows of slits 14a in which the brackets17 can have one of their end portions inserted. In the FIG. 7, 8 and 9the portion of each bracket located next to a rail 14 is illustrated inan especially suitable embodiment. The bracket illustrated has in itsinner end portion for one part an upper hookshaped web 15, and foranother part a lower web 16, which are each introduceable in one of thetwo slits located one above the other in the bracket rail 14. The lowerweb 16 has two shoulders 16a and 16b. The webs l and 16 are given suchdimensions and can be adjusted as to their position in such a mannerthat when mounting on the rail 14 the bracket inner end is with theupper web 15 in a raised position by lifting the outer end portion ofthe bracket, whereafter after a downward pivoting movement can bringeither the shoulder 16a or the shoulder 16b to bear against the bracketrail 14, whereupon the bracket occupies the position illustrated in FIG.7, when the shoulder 16a is against the rail or in the final positionillustrated in FIG. 8, when the shoulder 16b bears against the rail.Each one of the racks supported by the brackets 17 has a frame 18, whichsubstantially has the form of a rhomb. In the especially suitableembodiment of the racks illustrated in the FIG. 6-11 the acute angle ofthe tomb is substantially 60 and its obtuse angle consequently 120. Asis evident from the FIG. 6 a number of stay rails 19 and 20 extend in afan-shaped manner from and are fastened to the inside corner of the rackframe 18 and form the plane of the rack. The stays l9 and 20 arepreferably made with rails of a U-shaped section with their opening sidefacing downwards as is evident from the FIG. 10. Said rails 20 cooperatewith the brackets 17 to support the racks. When the racks have theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 6 each whole rack plane obtains the shapeof an equilateral hexagon as most clearly is evident from the FIG. 6.The chamfering of the innermost corners of the rack as can be understoodserves the purpose of providing space for the column 1 and bracket rails14. In the embodiment illustrated each rack is supported by twobrackets, which at their innermost end are each suspended in one of thetwo bracket rails 14 located adjacent one another. The angle between thestay rails 20 can be suitably adjusted in such a way that whensuspending the rack on the brackets these must be brought in a directiontowards or away from each other against the bias of the spring force ofthe bracket material, to permit the rails 20 to be brought down over thebrackets to the position illustrated in FIG. 10. In order to prevent therack from unintentionally being lifted off the brackets, the latter attheir upper edge portions are provided with thicker portions 17a and thestay rails 20 at one of their lower edge portions are provided withthicker portions 20a, whereby the thick portions exhibit such a heightthat they can grip around each other in such a manner as is shown inFIG. 10. The thick portions 17a and 20a can suitably be made as apreferably arched deformation of the edge portion of the brackets andthe stay rails respectively. In the embodiment of the racks illustratedin eFIG. 6-ll the mountin of,fo am 1 stiff material by way of exa npleigs? ai n n g 3312;

things, because of the straight edges is made possible. In FIG. 11 theedges located at the front side of the display assembly of the racksentering into the part of the assembly at the upper height plane aresupported on brackets, of which the ones located farthest away from eachother are fixed in the position illustrated in FIG. 7, and the oneslocated nearest to each other are fixed in the inclined positionillustrated in FIG. 8. As seen from the front it therefore appears as ifboth the rack edges located nearest to each other are almost horizontal,which can be of advantage when two adjacent racks are intended to form acommon surface on which, for example, goods for the display can beplaced.

I claim:

l. A turntable type display rack assembly comprising a plurality ofracks, a central column, a plurality of brackets detachably connected toand diverging away from said column, supports for said racks, pairs ofsaid brackets supporting each one of said racks and guiding meansprovided on each of said racks resting on a pair of said bracketswhereby each rack in their diverging direction is retained comparativelyunchanged in case the rack is subjected to a force in a direction awayfrom said central column in order to present said rack from beingdisplaced out of its position by action of said force.

2. A turntable type display rack assembly as claimed in claim 1 whereinsaid guiding means consists of rails each having a U-section andfastened to the underside of one of said racks and said rails, in themounted condition of their rack, rest on said brackets with the openside of the rails facing down.

3. A tumable type display rack assembly as claimed in claim 1 whereineach said rack has the form of a sector of a circle and said guidingmeans consists of rails each having a U-section and fastened to theunderside of one of said racks and resting on said brackets with therail open side facing down, and said guiding rails are located at adistance inside the radial edges of said racks.

4. A turntable type display rack assembly as claimed in claim 1including fastening means arranged on said racks consisting of railseach of an inverted U-shaped cross-section, the lateral flanges of saidrails having thick portions, with the upper edge portions of saidbrackets having thick portions each being engaged by one of said railthick portions in a hooklike manner.

1. A turntable type display rack assembly comprising a plurality ofracks, a central column, a plurality of brackets detachably connected toand diverging away from said column, supports for said racks, pairs ofsaid brackets supporting each one of said racks and guiding meansprovided on each of said racks resting on a pair of said bracketswhereby each rack in their diverging direction is retained comparativelyunchanged in case the rack is subjected to a force in a direction awayfrom said central column in order to present said rack from beingdisplaced out of its position by action of said force.
 2. A turntabletype display rack assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said guidingmeans consists of rails each having a U-section and fastened to theunderside of one of said racks and said rails, in the mounted conditionof their rack, rest on said brackets with the open side of the railsfacing down.
 3. A turnable type display rack assembly as claimed inclaim 1 wherein each said rack has the form of a sector of a circle andsaid guiding means consists of rails each having a U-section andfastened to the underside of one of said racks and resting on saidbrackets with the rail open side facing down, and said guiding rails arelocated at a distance inside the radial edges of said racks.
 4. Aturntable type display rack assembly as claimed in claim 1 includingfastening means arranged on said racks consisting of rails each of aninverted U-shaped cross-section, the lateral flanges of said railshaving thick portions, with the upper edge portions of said bracketshaving thick portions each being engaged by one of said rail thickportions in a hooklike manner.